Aluminum Sword Cutting

[Sheilawisz]

Just as I said that I would eventually do, I have taken pictures after one of my Aluminum Sword Cutting games in my garden... This time I sliced up an old pumpkin that was already starting to decompose, and I wanted to start this thread to share the results.

First of all, the pumpkin used belongs to a species different to the common pumpkins used to carve lanterns. These pumpkins are very hard (to the point that it takes a while to cut them open with a sharp knife!) and when I cut them to make pumpkin candy, it takes at least two really hard machete blows.

The decomposing part of this particular pumpkin was just the bottom, the rest was still very hard... Well, here we go with the first picture:

This picture turned out to be a little blurred, I don't know why- Anyway, here you can see the pumpkin and my Aluminum Sword, the first that I ever made =)

Here you can see the deep slash caused by a lazy swing of my sword.

The last picture shows the pumpkin already destroyed and the results of the final stab.

Any opinions and feedback are appreciated!! I want to post more pictures when I carry on future cutting tests on a variety of targets, to demonstrate the capabilities of Aluminum Swords =)

 

[Leif Notae]

Very nice. I'd love one of those, but my brain is a pumpkin so I fear for its safety!

 

[Butterfly]

These are amazing pics Shielawisz. Glad you're not using real heads.

 

[Anders Ämting]

You sure smote that pumpkin.

Would be interesting to see you prop it up on some kind of stand and try to cut a piece out of it. I've honestly never seen anyone do cutting excercises with an aluminum sword before.

 

[Sheilawisz]

Thank you very much for your comments, Leif and Butterfly!!

@Anders: You are right, I also have been unable to find any video or even pictures of cutting practices with an Aluminum sword... Maybe I am the first person to ever try it =)

I will do what you say, get a wooden stand or something to put my targets on and try to slash a watermelon or something else in half... It has to be soft targets to avoid damaging my sword, but it will be fun anyway.

Thanks for your comment!!

 

[Caged Maiden]

wow, nice work!

 

[shwabadi]

Hey that's pretty awesome!
How much do these things cost to make? I think I'd like to take a swing at it some time

 

[ThinkerX]

I really hope you were not imagining the pumpkin as a substitute for the Ex.

Also, I noticed your sword doesn't seem to have much of a guard (crosspiece). Is the hilt as flat as it looks in the pics? If so...good way to get bloody fingers. Yeeouch!

 

[Sheilawisz]

Thank you, Maiden =)

@Shwabadi: First of all, welcome to Mythic Scribes! I love your avatar. These aluminum swords are very cheap to make, since a 20 feet long aluminum slab just cost me some twenty us dollars and that's enough metal to make six swords. The hand tools are cheap too... the problem is that it's a very hard work.

You can check my complete Aluminum Swordmaking Guide here in Mythic Scribes, if you are curious about how to do it =)

@ThinkerX: You are right. Manufacturing cross guards is still beyond my aluminum working skills, but I feel that my swords look better without them. The hilt is flat indeed, but not sharp enough to cut my fingers when I play with my sword.

Any suggestions for the hilt?

 

[ThinkerX]

@ThinkerX: You are right. Manufacturing cross guards is still beyond my aluminum working skills, but I feel that my swords look better without them. The hilt is flat indeed, but not sharp enough to cut my fingers when I play with my sword.

Yes, the sword looks fantastic...but the purpose of the crosspiece is to save ones fingers.

Used a machete a fair bit growing up; often wished those had hilts.

Any suggestions for the hilt?

Hardwood dowel with a width equal to the width of the hilt.

Cut into two equal half cylinders. Could be tricky without clamps and a proper saw.

Drill two or three evenly spaced holes in metal sword hilt.

Use those holes to mark flat sides of half cylinders.

Drill half cylinders at marks.

Apply several coats of stain/polish to half cylinders.

Bolt together, making certain recess bolt heads and nuts. Hunt around a bit and you might be able to find rounded 'caps; to cover the nuts.

OR

You *might* be able to use some form of 'superglue' (cold weld, maybe?) instead of bolts, though I don't know how well that would hold up in the long run.

Hmmm...Maybe if you went with six holes in the hilt and three in each half cylinder, and used a combination of screws and glue instead of bolts...

DO NOT USE TO SLAUGHTER EX!